Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to legalize Tesla’s flying Roadster in the Sunshine State, even joking that it could “get ahead of golf carts in The Villages,” one of the nation’s largest retirement communities.
“We will make sure it is legal,” DeSantis wrote on X.
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His comments follow Elon Musk’s Oct. 15 unveiling of the highly anticipated Roadster at a SpaceX facility in Texas, years after Tesla first announced plans for the next-generation sports car.
The event, broadcast live on X, featured a Roadster equipped with high-pressure air tanks and thrusters designed to propel it into the air. During the demonstration, the vehicle accelerated down a curved ramp, took off, turned 180 degrees and landed on its wheels.
“Flying cars are real,” Musk said at the event. He acknowledged that “the success of this technology is not guaranteed”, but he believes that “it will probably work”.
The caveat is that production isn’t expected to begin until 2028 at the earliest, and Tesla has yet to announce pricing for the flying “Rocket” version. Buyers can reserve a conventional Roadster for a $5,000 deposit, while the full-flight Rocket model will be available by invitation only.
DeSantis’ endorsement raises a bigger question about the future of flying cars, including whether states like Florida can help commercialize the technology despite remaining regulatory hurdles.
Can Florida legalize flying cars?
While DeSantis may be ready to welcome Tesla’s flying Roadster to Florida, his approval alone won’t make the vehicle road legal — or allow it to fly.
The distinction is between state authority and federal authority. Florida regulates vehicle registration, registration, and use of public roads, while the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) oversees federal vehicle safety standards and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulates aircraft safety.
For Tesla, regulatory requirements would depend on how the flying Roadster is classified and operated. A vehicle capable of briefly jumping through the air may face different requirements than a vehicle designed for sustained, controlled flight.
Perhaps just as difficult is how these vehicles would be insured. Milad Morgan, founder of Atlas Risk Partners, a licensed property and casualty insurance brokerage, told Moneywise that flying cars introduce a new set of risks that insurers must evaluate.
“For a vehicle capable of road travel and flight, the first insurance question is what it is actually approved and designed for,” Morgan told Moneywise. “Legalness would not be sufficient to establish coverage for airborne use. This is a general underwriting perspective, not a confirmation of Tesla’s capabilities, regulatory classification, or available insurance.”
Insurers should also consider who is behind the wheel, where the vehicle is used, maintenance costs and potential damage from an accident. For example, a failed landing could be much more costly than a typical traffic collision, Morgan said. Liability for vehicle defects would also be separate from the owner’s insurance coverage.
Daniel Severin, head of global mobility insurance at Mobily, sees another complication: determining who is responsible if something goes wrong.
The challenge, he told Moneywise, is determining where conventional auto insurance ends and air coverage begins, particularly when liability might fall on the vehicle’s manufacturer, driver or operator.
Even so, Severin believes insurers will find a way to cover flying cars, pointing to the industry’s long history of underwriting unusual and emerging risks.
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What Waymo can teach insurers about flying cars
The insurance industry has faced similar challenges before, particularly with autonomous vehicles, where traditional measures of driver risk do not always apply.
Andrei Craciunescu, CEO of RiskCube, cited Waymo as an example of how insurers can approach unfamiliar technology without relying on decades of accident data.
“When autonomous vehicles first emerged, the insurance industry had limited historical claims data that could be used directly to assess risk,” Craciunescu told Moneywise.
He said insurers should find ways to calculate risk, decide how much cover to offer and tap other companies to help cover potentially large losses. A similar approach could work for flying cars, although Craciunescu cautioned that finding insurers willing to share those risks could take time, particularly in Europe.
Flying cars face a costly path to reality
Insurance is just one piece of the puzzle. Flying cars have captured the public imagination for decades, but making them a means of everyday transportation would also require significant investment in infrastructure.
The FAA has already established rules for a new category of aircraft called “lift engine,” which combines features of airplanes and helicopters. The agency describes it as the first entirely new category of civil aircraft in nearly a century.
The emerging industry, known as advanced air mobility, could be worth more than $29 billion globally by 2030, according to Research and Markets. But getting there will require substantial investment in infrastructure, including specialized takeoff and landing facilities called vertiports.
The FAA cited estimates that a large metropolitan area could need as many as 77 vertiports, which would cost about $240 million to develop. Operators would also have to meet pilot training requirements and work within existing air traffic systems.
Tesla’s Roadster, however, doesn’t seem to fit the aviation model the FAA is preparing for. As the agency envisions planes operating between dedicated takeoff and landing facilities with trained pilots, Musk showed off a road-going sports car capable of briefly taking flight. It’s unclear whether the Roadster would need similar infrastructure or pilot qualifications, or how existing aviation rules would apply to a vehicle designed to both drive and fly.
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This article was originally published on Moneywise.com under the title: Ron DeSantis says Tesla’s flying Roadster will be legal in Florida – and could ‘overtake golf carts in villages’.
This article provides information only and should not be considered advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
